May 17, 2007

My name is Brent Gotsch and I have been a four-year resident of Hinman College and an RA in Roosevelt Hall. For those of you who don’t know, at Homecoming 2007 (October 5-7, 2007) Hinman will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary! Plan to come, and tell your friends.

I have been a history major, and with the support of Hinman’s current Faculty Master, Al Vos, I was given the opportunity to write a history of Hinman College from its inception in 1967 to the present, covering as many facets of Hinman life as possible. Although I didn’t realize it until I started working on it, this was a tremendous undertaking. There are an incredible number of rich and varied stories from Hinman’s past and I was only able to scratch the surface of what Hinman history was all about.

Posted on this website is the table of contents which will allow you to access the project in its entirety. I invite everyone to glance through it and reminisce about their time in Hinman. I began this project in September of 2006 as an independent study project at the beginning of my senior year with the intention of finishing it up in a few weeks. A few weeks worth of work turned into a nine month odyssey that led me to many fascinating alums from Hinman’s past. I had an amazing time working on this project and I can honestly say that, even though it was time consuming and required a great deal of sacrifice, it was the most enjoyable and worthwhile experience of my entire college career.

The most enjoyable part of the entire project was corresponding with Hinman alumni. Their stories inspired me to go into as much detail on this project as I could and made me realize that the Hinman Spirit is to be found in every single generation of Hinmanites from 1967 to the present day. As much as I enjoyed speaking with alumni I will no longer be taking submissions or conducting interviews for the project. I am now a proud member of the Hinman alumni community and (unfortunately) will now have to take my place in the “real world.” I’m sorry that not everyone was able to tell me their story but for now I will have to put down my pen (or the keyboard in my case) and pass the awesome task of chronicling Hinman history to a new generation of Hinmanites, just as that task and the Spirit of Hinman was passed to me. I still value feedback and comments so feel free to email me with those or if you have any questions regarding the Hinman 40th Anniversary Celebration.

As I look back on my time in Hinman I can honestly say that it was the best four years of my life up until this point and think that I will be hard pressed to top my experiences in Hinman. Hinman was the place where I met my best friends, learned more than I ever possibly could in a classroom, and grew into the person that I am today. I know that I am not alone when I express these feelings and have four decades of still passionate Hinmanites backing me up with similar sentiments. Hinman is truly a special place and I hope that all of you will be there to help celebrate its 40th birthday in October.

I hope to see you there and thank you again for all of your support and for making my senior year the most wonderful experience I could ever possibly have hoped for.

Sincerely,
Brent Gotsch
Resident Assistant, Hinman College

Email: bgotsch1@gmail.com